We had our first winter storm here in Brookline for quite some time. Not really a storm, just some ice and a couple inches of snow. My wife, God bless her, agreed to take the kids to school this morning so I could meet a friend for coffee down the block. She even went out and scraped her own car off, something I would have done for her if I hadn’t still been in my PJs.
When I did make it outside a half hour later I realized that she had taken our only scraper (my fault not hers). I tried removing the ice and snow with my glove but that proved completely ineffective. Some light fluffy snow covered a good half inch of ice. Inside I looked everywhere for another scraper without luck finally resorting to the first hardcover book I could find to do the trick. I scraped the front and side windows the best I could and jumped in to go meet my friend, already late.
The roads were slick so traffic had backed up on the downhill I would normally take to get to Panera, so I looped around. Just after taking the final corner I noticed a cop flashing his lights at me to pull over. “Do you really think you can see out that back window?” he asked.
I mumbled as I look back at the ice-covered rear window, flummoxed by even the idea that you can get a moving citation for insufficient scraping of your windows. I finally said something about being on my way to buy a scraper while holding up my now destroyed copy of Richard Price’s Samaritan.
The cop softened just a bit. “Okay I will make a deal with you. If you get out of the car and clean off your back windshield the best you can with that book I will make it a warning rather than a ticket.” I mumbled assent while still thinking to myself, I had no idea you could get a ticket for insufficient scraping…
At coffee, I showed my buddy the citation and told him how when I was the divorced father of two babies I used to go get my kids on Friday night and have to patrol the Back Bay for a parking spot. Snow made the whole thing basically impossible. “One time I drove around for a half an hour but the kids were crying and hungry so I ultimately just parked the car on top of a snow bank sticking way out into Commonwealth Avenue and left. No one seemed to care. The next day it was right where I left it.”
“Yeah, that’s the difference between city cops and town cops,” my buddy told me laughing at the scraping ticket.
Now I know. Always scrape really well or risk getting pulled over.
I haven’t gotten a scraper yet (they were all out at the hardware store) but Richard Price is still riding shotgun in case I need him in a pinch.
An age old car owners are always
suggested to sell it as a scrap car before it gets totally out of use.
Nice story, Tom. I think the cop made a dumb observation, though. Unless your laws explicitly talk about the rear window, you don’t need to see through that. You have external rearview mirrors for looking backwards (you do have external rearview mirrors in USA, do you?). Think about vans. Think about trucks. They have no rear window, and it’s no problem. So I don’t see why you SHOULD have yours clean. It’s something optional, not mandatory. That’s why here we can have the rear window and back side windows screened (blackened), but NOT the windscreen and front side windows (of… Read more »
Well, if the rear view mirrow was still ice-covered then it is very likely that the side mirrors were frosted as well. Which leaves one with no sight when for instance shifting lanes or turning.
Where I live it is a real problem that some people just drive off with a small (fistsize or so) hole in the frost on the windows. This increases the risks for accidents at pedestrian crossings, near schools, in crossroads and in general. The penalty of not scraping sufficiently here may extend to suspending the driver’s licence for a set time period (usually some months).
The cop should give out free ice scrapers to poor unequipped writers instead of writing stupid tickets!
I had this same problem this morning but since I live on the J-Way I was able to build up enough steam for the wind to remove all the snow before I got spotted…Which I know is also illegal.
This is yet another example of how the digital music revolution has caused nothing but headaches for civilization. Two years ago you would have pulled out a CD jewel case and had that window clear in no time.
Haha…very apt observation.
Oh yes, the lovely laws of Massachusetts! You can also be pulled over if the snow on your car isn’t properly removed and flies off impeding other drivers! 😉
A word of advice, posting the citation is proof of the absurdity but you should be careful. It contains very sensitive info like name DOB, liscense and registration number, address. All that in some unscrupulous hands could be a huge risk for you and your family.
Too late, I’ve already sold his info to the Russians. No doubt they’ve already opened a dozen credit cards in his name and are now having expensive items sent to re-shippers to be fenced on the black market so the money can’t be traced.
Nicole – the personal security issue is very well pointed out!
Having looked closely – It also makes me wonder if Tom has not been telling a few fibs about his age? What’s a few years dropped between friends – and the whole Internet? P^)
Thanks Nicole we have photoshopped out.
Damn! That looked like a really cosy identity too 🙁
Maybe the Moral is A Good Man Scrapes Both Cars in his PJs ?
Hey Tom,
Grow up. You put a lot of people in jeopardy when you drive without being able to see out your windows. Maybe walk to meet your friend for coffee next time if you can’t scrape the ice off your car. You should be ashamed of yourself for being so selfish. The cop should have given you a real ticket instead of just a warning.
-Joe